<!DOCTYPE html>
<html>
<head>
<meta charset="UTF-8">
<title>Protection by the_weeping_willow</title>
<style type="text/css">

body { background-color: #ffffff; }
.CI {
text-align:center;
margin-top:0px;
margin-bottom:0px;
padding:0px;
}
.center   {text-align: center;}
.cover    {text-align: center;}
.full     {width: 100%; }
.quarter  {width: 25%; }
.smcap    {font-variant: small-caps;}
.u        {text-decoration: underline;}
.bold     {font-weight: bold;}
</style>
</head>
<body>
<h1><a href="https://archiveofourown.org/works/28065282">Protection</a> by <a class='authorlink' href='https://archiveofourown.org/users/the_weeping_willow/pseuds/the_weeping_willow'>the_weeping_willow</a></h1>

<table class="full">

<tr><td><b>Category:</b></td><td>Merlin (TV)</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Genre:</b></td><td>Arthur Finds Out About Merlin's Magic (Merlin), Canon Era, Fluff, Friendship, M/M, Magic Revealed, One Shot, Pre-Slash, Protective Gwaine (Merlin), Protective Lancelot (Merlin)</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Language:</b></td><td>English</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Status:</b></td><td>Completed</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Published:</b></td><td>2020-12-14</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Updated:</b></td><td>2020-12-14</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Packaged:</b></td><td>2021-05-10 16:48:29</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Rating:</b></td><td>General Audiences</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Warnings:</b></td><td>No Archive Warnings Apply</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Chapters:</b></td><td>1</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Words:</b></td><td>1,140</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Publisher:</b></td><td>archiveofourown.org</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Story URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/works/28065282</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Author URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/users/the_weeping_willow/pseuds/the_weeping_willow</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Summary:</b></td><td><div class="userstuff">
              <p>Merlin's magic is revealed and he fears his friends' reactions.</p>
            </div></td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Relationships:</b></td><td>Gwaine &amp; Merlin (Merlin), Lancelot &amp; Merlin (Merlin), Merlin &amp; Arthur Pendragon (Merlin), Merlin/Arthur Pendragon (Merlin)</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Comments:</b></td><td>2</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Kudos:</b></td><td>227</td></tr>

</table>

<a name="section0001"><h2>Protection</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Author's Note:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
      <p>The summary isn't much because I didn't want to give too much away. I know this is an old fandom but I'm pretty sure it's not a dead one. I hope at least someone enjoys this and I would love feedback. I honestly have no idea when this should take place.</p>
    </blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>They had been travelling back from a small diplomatic journey. It was a peaceful ride with Merlin, Arthur, Lancelot, and Gwaine enjoying the calmness of the forest and exchanging small conversation from time to time. They probably should have realized then that something was wrong, as peace was never lasting for them. As Arthur made a  jibe at Merlin’s expense, they all paused. They stiffened upon the shared feeling that they weren’t alone. Unfortunately, they were not fast enough to recognize this before all hell broke loose.<br/>
Bandits appeared out of the trees from every direction. The group dismounted to fight but was overwhelmed before they could even draw their weapons. They did their best to fight them off. They had all been separated by men in between them, each knight worrying for Merlin, and the young warlock trying to help discretely. It wasn’t enough though and they were going to be overtaken if Merlin didn’t act. He didn’t have time to weigh up the consequences as he saw a sword aimed at his King’s back. He muttered a few words and the forest went still as the men dropped and the fight stopped.<br/>
As the peace returned each of the men exchanged glances. The one between Merlin and Lancelot was meaningful but unnoticed. Gwaine and Arthur looked at Merlin and each other, as they all seemed to conclude what had happened. They almost seemed to be in a standoff, waiting for someone else to react.<br/>
Merlin was frozen by fear. Fear of punishment and banishment. Fear of losing his friends. Fear of losing their trust. Fear of losing Arthur. He couldn’t meet anyone’s eyes and looked ready to keel over at any moment, petrified.<br/>
Lancelot made the first move. He was closest to Merlin, so it only took two steps to reach him, where he put a comforting hand on his shoulder before standing in front of him protectively. The other two men quickly realized this meant Lancelot had known, or he somehow expected it at least.<br/>
Gwaine was wrestling with feelings of hurt. His best friend hadn’t trusted him. But no, that wasn’t right. Looking at the boy (because that’s all he really was), Gwaine could see the terror taking him over. He was shaking like a leaf in a storm, pale enough to be a corpse. However, what really hit Gwaine was the look in his eyes. He looked ashamed, not at being caught, but at not having told them before. Gwaine could see how this had eaten away at Merlin, lying every day of his life to his closest companions. And Gwaine couldn’t even imagine what it took to lie to Arthur with the way Merlin cared for him.<br/>
At the end of his momentary assessment, Gwaine joined Lancelot in a protective stance in front of their friend. Gwaine had grown to respect Arthur as a man and a king, but he still did not know for sure how he would react, and he was willing to risk his title for his friend. He acknowledged he and Lancelot were now both essentially guilty of treason for turning on their king. For a sorcerer no less.<br/>
Arthur was taking much longer to process. Merlin had just used magic. Merlin had magic. And had never told him. He felt betrayed, and for a moment doubt of Merlin’s loyalty raced through him, but was immediately scrapped. One moment looking through memories linking Merlin and magic proved that he had protected the king on more than one occasion. Arthur almost felt like a fool for not realizing sooner. He was hurt, but one look at his manservant showed how much it had been hurting him as well. Merlin’s fear of their reactions was palpable.<br/>
He watched first Lancelot then Gwaine take up position in front of his best friend, facing him. It took a moment before he realized what they meant by it, that they would defend Merlin against him if they had to. He looked between them in disbelief before he broke the suffocating silence.<br/>
“Do you really think I would hurt him? After all he’s done for me, do you really take me for that much of a fool?” He was offended that they could think him so cruel to attack his most trusted friend for something so trivial.<br/>
Okay maybe Merlin having magic wasn’t trivial per se, but there wasn’t an evil bone in that bumbling idiot’s body, so what was the harm.<br/>
Gwaine gave him an appraising look before he moved his hand from where it had been resting on his sword hilt. “Hard to say, princess. Your family and magic have a history.” The word magic being spoken aloud seemed to break some cord of tension, as the atmosphere shifted.<br/>
“I’m sorry I couldn’t tell you. Or I chose not to. I’m sorry that I’ve been lying.” Merlin looked and sounded like he was on the verge of tears. Arthur took a stride towards him, but the self-appointed bodyguards seemed to tense. At his pleading look, they begrudgingly stepped aside.<br/>
He gathered the smaller man in his arms as the dam broke. Merlin sobbed as Arthur hushed him and simply held him. He wasn’t good with words in situations like this, but he hoped this was enough to convey his feelings. He was not angry, he still cared for Merlin, he understood why he did it. He was grateful.<br/>
Merlin’s shuddering breaths eased and they pulled apart. Arthur gave him a final pat on the shoulder before stepping back, only for Gwaine to engulf Merlin in his own hug. It wasn’t nearly as long and it brought a teary giggle out of Merlin. Arthur ignored the twinge of jealousy he felt. Merlin also gave Lancelot a brief hug and thanked them for accepting him.<br/>
“For now we will guard your secret, until I can make moves to lift the ban on magic.” The way Merlin’s eyes lit up in hope was truly more stunning than the stars. He blinked a moment at Merlin beaming at him before a pair of skinny arms wrapped around him tightly. He gave a grunt of surprise before returning it, giving fake grumbles that no one bought.<br/>
Gwaine began taking a few steps away from the pair teasing, “I guess we’ll just leave you two lovebirds to it.” Merlin pulled back from the embrace just far enough to glance at Gwaine and watch him trip over a root that had magically appeared under his heel. Arthur was entranced by the gold that overtook his eyes, but was even more enchanted by Merlin bursting into delighted laughter. He couldn’t help his smile that wouldn’t go away, even as Lancelot and Gwaine looked at him teasingly.<br/>
He was the king and he could moon over his magical manservant if he wanted, goddamnit.</p>
  </div></div>
</body>
</html>